Intro: This week’s guest is Mike Miles discussing what endurance sports can teach us about who we are and how we lead. With leadership coach and trail runner Mike, we trade DNF stories, dig into purpose and preparation, and make the case that balance is a real competitive advantage.
This episode’s topics include:
• leaving a big career and rebuilding identity through hard goals
• road running versus trail running and why traditions matter
• the Seattle Marathon meltdown and the “read the fine print” lesson
• Tiger Claw strategy, cutoffs, and training specificity
• DNFs and time cuts as feedback rather than failure
• using long runs to solve leadership and business problems
• the power of a clear “why” for resilience in sport and startups
• endurance events as family bonding and a shared purpose
• discomfort as training for leadership challenges
• why work-life balance improves EQ, judgement, and performance

Learn more about Mike’s work as a couch on his website: https://milestone-leadership1.squarespace.com/

Thanks for listening to Running With Problems. Follow us on Instagram @runningwithproblems. DM us there with questions in text or audio messages! Or email us at podcast@runningwithproblems.run.

Hosted by Jon Eisen (@mildly_athletic) and Miranda Williamson (@peaksandjustice). Edited by Jon Eisen. Theme music by Matt Beer.

Jon and Miranda check in sharing stories from crewing the eerie Badwater Salton Sea 81-mile team race, then shift into the brutal pull of Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Invitational. Mitch Dulleck walks us through training, gear, food, and the moment he chooses safety over the finish during a stormy ITI 350 attempt.

• Why extreme events become a way to prove you belong
• What makes ITI different from most ultramarathons
• Training in Leadville for cold weather and pulling a sled
• The “do not sweat” rule and how it shapes pacing
• Hydration and water-freezing problems in subzero temps
• Food choices that still work when frozen
• Navigation decisions on an unmarked course using GPX
• Finger Lake wind, ground blizzards, and frostbite triage
• Rainy Pass risk and the mental weight of rescue stories
• Turning back as a deliberate safety decision and planning the return

Hit us up at runningwithproblems.run or on Instagram. Please send any episode requests, something you want to learn about, a conversation you’d like us to have, and we’ll look into guests to have that conversation.

Thanks for listening to Running With Problems. Follow us on Instagram @runningwithproblems. DM us there with questions in text or audio messages! Or email us at podcast@runningwithproblems.run.

Hosted by Jon Eisen (@mildly_athletic) and Miranda Williamson (@peaksandjustice). Edited by Jon Eisen. Theme music by Matt Beer.

For John Clark’s (JC) full bio revisit season 3 episode 4: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2437656/episodes/16363345

We sit down with JC to unpack his first winter ultramarathon finish at the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350, where dragging a gear sled through Alaska’s deep cold turns basic tasks like eating and navigation into real risk. We also talk through the behind-the-scenes prep, the gear, and the small decisions that add up over ten relentless days.

• what makes the Iditarod Trail Invitational so dangerous and so compelling
• hauling a 50 to 55 pound sled across lakes, rivers, and mountain passes
• gear failures leading to frostbite
• how the ITI qualifier camp teaches wet-gear survival and vapor barriers
• gear iteration under extreme cold including sleeping systems and face coverage
• early navigation mistakes and why staying on the packed route matters
• Rainy Pass rescues and the winter ultra culture of helping others
• the mental grind after the pass with long gaps between aid and sleep
• the final push with shiver bivies and trail naps
• what JC would change before trying the race again

If you want to check out some frostbite, go to our Instagram.

Look for another episode on this epic event dropping next week.

Thanks for listening to Running With Problems. Follow us on Instagram @runningwithproblems. DM us there with questions in text or audio messages! Or email us at podcast@runningwithproblems.run.

Hosted by Jon Eisen (@mildly_athletic) and Miranda Williamson (@peaksandjustice). Edited by Jon Eisen. Theme music by Matt Beer.